The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic StudiesMetchnikoff, Elie
Science
The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies
Metchnikoff, Elie
Aging; Hygiene; Longevity; Older people -- Social conditions
The noble spirit now is free,
And saved from evil scheming:
Whoe’er aspires unweariedly
Is not beyond redeeming.[224]
However, that of which he did not speak, and which none the less was
most important in Faust and in Goethe himself, is the action of love as
a stimulant to artistic creation, and it was probably to this that he
referred at the end of his tragedy. The mystical chorus sent up prayers
in a religious and erotic ecstasy, and their mysterious song is:—
The Indescribable,
Here it is done;
The Woman-Soul leadeth us
Upward and on![225]
Although these verses have been interpreted as love which sacrifices or
even love which leads to the grace of God (Bode, p. 149), it is much
more probable that it is love for feminine beauty, a love which makes
possible the execution of wonderful things. Such an interpretation
agrees with the fact that the verses are spoken by a _mystic_ choir
which speaks of the _indescribable_ (_das Unbeschreibliche_) in
which we must see the amorous passion of the old man. In such an
interpretation the whole of _Faust_ (and especially the second Part) is
an eloquent pleading for the importance of love in the higher activity
of man, in accordance with the law of human nature, which is a much
better justification of Goethe’s conduct than all the arguments of his
interpreters and admirers.
I do not agree with the common idea that the two Parts of _Faust_ are
two distinct works, but regard them as complementary. In the first Part
we see the young pessimist, full of ardour and of desires, ready to
make an end of his days and stopping at nothing to satisfy his thirst
for love. In the second Part we have a mature old man still loving
women, but in a different way, a man who is wise and optimistic, and
who, having satiated the wants of his individual life, dedicates the
rest of his days to mankind, and who, having reached a century, dies
extremely happy, in fact almost exhibiting the instinct of natural
death.
PART IX
SCIENCE AND MORALITY
I
UTILITARIAN AND INTUITIVE MORALITY
Difficulty of the problem of morality—Vivisection
and anti-vivisection—Enquiry into the possibility of
rational morality—Utilitarian and intuitive theories of
morality—Insufficiency of these
In the course of this book I have from time to time approached
subjects closely related with the problem of morality. For instance,
in considering the prolongation of human life, it was necessary to
show that extension of longevity far beyond the reproductive period of
man in no way is opposed to the principles of the highest morality,
although there exist races who find the sacrifice of old people in
harmony with their conception of morality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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